May 18, 2020
The Department of Architecture and Design at XJTLU is excited to welcome new faculty members. With their various experiences, they make an excellent addition to the existing team. Having them on board, the Department is able to further improve the teaching quality, expand the faculty capacity, and provide excellent education for its undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in architecture and industrial design.
Namuun Zimmermann
Lecturer
Industrial Design
Professional experience:
I have been teaching at the Design Department at Goldsmiths University of London. It was an amazing time teaching alongside diverse practitioners and tutoring creative students from all over the world.
In my teaching years I have been running design briefs which supported the students to find their interests and tools to develop fascinating design projects. The goal of the projects was to develop their unique design understanding and positioning in the current design discourse.
Research interest :
In my research for Educational Design and Social Engaged Practice, I often use the development of workshops. This helps me to generate a framework to breakdown complex topics into understandable exercises, which in turn allows public participants to engage in socio-political phenomena, through dialogue and hands-on making.
For Conceptual and Critical Design in Product Design, I merge research practice with material experimentation, where I use a range of different design skills to create outcomes that are original in their narrative, aesthetics and functionality. Within the physical design exploration, I seek to combine conceptual thinking with research and process experiments.
4017 Enacted, collaboration with Onkar Kular and Common Initiative
Expectations for XJTLU and the Department of Architecture and Design:
I hope to research and experience new ways of educational tools and product design. I would love to support and help students to navigate through their individual design process, create new teaching methodologies and advance students skills to create conceptual and innovative design projects.
I am excited to experience the diverse cultural influences of students and staff. My belief is that support and exchange of ideas between the different years will create a positive and motivating environment.
Martijn Rigters
Lecturer
Industrial Design
Professional experience:
In my teaching I often focus on hands-on prototyping and development of design skills through experimenting and testing, with the aim that students develop a broad range of methods to translate their initial ideas through ideation and prototyping into a final design outcome.
I am a product design practitioner with almost a decade of experience in running an internationally active design studio, collaborating with companies and institutions, and acquiring grants to support my research-based projects. I have lived and worked in London for several years, and after graduating from the Royal College of Art MA Design Products program (London, UK), I have co-founded a contemporary design studio focusing on experimental product design and developing educational workshops.
Research interest:
For material research and experimental production, I have a strong interest in the methods we use to create the world we live in. Having a background as a maker, I like to explore alternative production processes through designing my own machines and tools. Since sustainability is inherently linked to design, one of my research projects (The Colour of Hair) was the search for alternative printing methods on various metals with natural fibers, which involved experimenting with new printing tools and processes.
For conceptual design, my interests lie in projects which are born from conceptual and abstract thinking combined with academic research, which are then translated in an original and meaningful manner into real-world solutions or products. All conceptual ideas have the potential to be implemented through diverse media, methods, materials and industrial processes. This broadening of conceptual and contextual thinking is something I would like to encourage students to explore as well, as it would enable them to generate inspiration from anything and anywhere – a very valuable resource.
Cutting Edge Sofas
The Colour of Hair, in collaboration with Fabio Hendry
Expectations for XJTLU and the Department of Architecture and Design:
I am very much looking forward being part of an international team in such an exciting part of the world, working on a curriculum that enables students to find their individual interests and skills. I am excited to help students to develop a language that fits them individually, and to encourage them to make the best use of the advanced workshops they have access to. I hope to enable the students to collaborate on projects with the professional world as well as finding exciting opportunities to exhibit their work, to gain experience outside of the campus.
By Yi Qian
Edited by Claudia Westermann
May 18, 2020